From the Royal Shakespeare Company - a fresh new edition of two of Shakespeare`s classical plays. This book includes: - Illuminating introductions to Titus Andronicus and Timon of Athens by award-winning scholar Jonathan Bate; - The two plays - with clear explanatory notes on each page; - Helpful scene-by-scene analyses and key facts about both plays; - An introduction to Shakespeare`s career and the Elizabethan theatre; - Rich explorations of approaches to staging both plays featuring photographs of key productions of each. The most enjoyable way to understand a Shakespeare play is to see it or participate in it. This book presents a historical overview of two of Shakespeare`s classical plays Titus Andronicus and Timon of Athens in performance, recommends film versions, takes a detailed look at specific productions and includes interviews with three leading Directors - Gregory Doran, Yukio Ninagawa and Michael Pennington - so that we may get a sense of the extraordinary variety of interpretations that are possible - a variety that gives Shakespeare his unique capacity to be reinvented and made `our contemporary` four centuries after his death.